Lighthouse 1st Church Camp Testimonies

Supragate’s thanksgiving

Thank God for the church camp, I received blessings from the messages of Pastor Heng. He taught about the purpose of building the church which begins from God and end by God. God created man which will bring to salvation and eternal life. I was happy to join the camp for I met the members of the church and studied Bible together in the mist of mountains, beautiful nature and water fall. We also encouraged each other to grow up in Christ, to know God and to get ready to witness for the good news to many people. We have to be ready to share the gospel to those who don’t know God. And we have to get ready to serve God with all our lives.
Even thought it was difficult to do the camp, all these things taught us to get it better next time. To feel the nature is to know that God is the creator. I spent some time to analyze and study carefully about God’s words to apply in daily life, to serve God, to encourage the members in the church to grow up in Christ, to have more understanding about God and to walk with God.
Even though there were not many members of the church attended the camp, God knew who will be blessed in the camp.

Nalinee Thalue

Citizen of the kingdom of the heaven Camp 

Thank God for the Citizen of the kingdom of the heaven Camp. I had a good time in resting in the mist of the nature and fresh air. Most importantly, my spiritual life was fulfilled with God’s words. I learned about God’s plan in Ephesians and I felt God’s love, also I knew how to live in order to honor God.
            Thank God for Pastor Heng for preparing good lessons, it was a good teaching. Some words were interesting, for example; to humble which means we have a right but we don’t use it. Jesus is the best example of being humble. And another word is to angry, he said, the anger happens because someone cannot do what we expect for, he added; no one can make you get angry, but you yourself. The next things I learned are walk in light, walk in love and walk in Lord’s will. To know God plan is to read Bible for master plan is all in the Bible.
            Thank God for God’s words through Pastor Heng and through his life. He shared his life for us, this is very clear for giving testimony to show that Jesus is alive.
 

Saranya Tongkan’s Reflection on Lighthouse Church Camp “Citizens of Heaven”

        I thank God for His mercy to remind in this camp of such a privilege to be the citizen of His kingdom. This camp helps me go through in more detial of the book of Ephesians. It is not just the citizenship that I come realize but also the blessings and the predestination that God has chosen me before the foundation of the world. It affects my life to carefully walk on this earth as it is not my home. The message gives me hope of going home and this hope brings me joy, peace and gratefulness. I come to learn that there is so much more I have to learn, not just to gain knowledge but to understand by heart and to live it up, and I am so sure that even the whole is not enough. I am also grateful for Thailand has been blessed with beautiful mountains, tress and flowers. As we wnet there I could the glory of God through all His creations.
They reflect His marvalous, wonderful and gorgeous character, and I learn that God’s wisdom is indescribable. Once again I thank God this incredible camp with very good, delicious food, a good place and even fresh air. Amen.

Pakorn Boonmee’s Testmony

Thank God that I could join the camp because the Bible School started on Oct 13th. I skipped the class. God is working all the time; this is what I said to myself. I prayed that all the members in the church will join the camp, but some of them could not come. Thanks God that I could see God is working. God saved us all the way to the Queen garden. I was fulfilled with God’s words. I was happy that I was able to translate on that day. God’s words were powerful. I have learned that we, Christians, are the body of Christ. Sometimes, I do whatever I want to do, but if I have considered about the body of Christ I have to do whatever God wants me to do. Thank God that his words could change my attitude. Thank God that he gives me the flesh air on the mountain for free. And thank God for food that we had a lot of food to eat. Also, thank God for his preparation. At first, we prepared that program for the members who are teenagers, but the program had to be changed. There were Apple’s mother & a friend of Apples’ mother to join our camp, therefore the program must be changed. I saw they are happy and enjoyed the camp. We also enjoyed visiting the Queen garden. It was a good program, so we could take a rest. Once again, thank God for his words, I realized about body of Christ and I have to stay close to God more.

The Lighthouse Building Progress Report

Monday, 2 November, 2009 11:06 PM

Praise the Lord! We collected the approval from the municipality today. Nothing shady. Came from the Head directly. We can now proceed without worrying about the police trying to arrest the foreign workers. Digging has already begun but was interrupted due to problems with the backhoe on Saturday.

Friday, 30 October, 2009 7:48 PM

Our Contractor received a call from the municipality that the written approval will be given on Monday. Our Contractor has committed before the Lord not to do anything that would look or smell like corruption. He and the team have been busy preparing the steel bars for the pouring of concrete.

Sunday, 11 October, 2009 11:29 PM

The skies looked threatening the whole afternoon. We were at the airport early to pick up Rev. & Mrs. Philip Heng to be rushed home and then to the site. We reached our site at 5:50pm and were ready to start on time…a rare feat. But that was not to be.

We started 10 minutes late because someone drove into a ditch nearby. We tried to help but didn’t have the necessary equipment. Besides it was getting dark soon and we needed to start the service. There were about 29 people present including for 4 of the 6 current members, close friends and well-wishers. It was a moving experience. Gade lead the service. Nathaniel translated into English and Apple translated for Rev. Heng.

The electricity had been installed only earlier that evening. All in all, many things had to come together and God had to arrange all that. After the service. All the men tried to get the truck out of the ditch. We almost lost our general contractor as he was under the truck when it slid off the jack. There were shrieks all around as those of us near the truck rushed to lift the it. Thankfully he slid out from under the truck suffering only a bruise around the chest area. The x-ray discovered no fractured ribs. What a reminder that our lives are in the Lord’s Hands.

We all adjourned for dinner at the Lemon Tree. Finally managed to get a tow-truck operator with a ;jack to come out. We managed to get the truck back onto the road by 10:15 pm. Praise the Lord.

Saturday, 10 October, 2009 11:58 PM

The perimeter for the church building/student centre has been marked out. However, our 1st setback is our blueprint has not been approved. While initially we were told that 2 meters from the road was okay. Now they require 3 meters distance from the road because we tried to register as a building for public use. When asked about the submission a month ago, they said that they did not sign the cover so there was actually “no submission.” If we start the submission process again, it could take up to 45 days. Meanwhile, if construction begins without approval, then we would be violating the law. Pray with us through this current hiccup.

Thursday, 8 October, 2009 9:51 PM

Some concrete pipes had been put in the drain and covered with soil so the trucks can deliver materials. The electricity point has been setup but still waiting for the municipality to connect the electricity. F had to make minor changes to the blueprint submitted for approval. So he’s been running around. Took Kao Fang over to meet F. He’s going help guard the site at night. Kao Fang is already a war veteran with combat experience in the South. Pray that nobody comes to steal stuff and nobody gets hurt.

Tuesday, 6 October, 2009 12:25 PM
We made our first payment 250k bt to our contractor yesterday. F our contractor is setting up the worksite in preparation to start building work on 12 October, the day after ground breaking.

We had a good visit with Pastor Zhou Zhen Chang who gave good advice on building and prices on materials. We also took the opportunity to inform them of ground breaking.

Saturday, 3 October, 2009 10:20 PM
Yesterday was prayer meeting with a twist. Our General Contractor F Kitpichai joined us for prayer and he brought along the contract for our perusal. One thing he’s admitted is that he’s not very computer savvy. Anyway, we’ve decided to redo the contract as a calculation error would have put him 250,000 bt in the red.

We’ll meet on Monday to sign the contract. One current point of difference is the warranty period for the building.

Our Search for a home for the Lighthouse. Part 4

25 May 2009
We meet with P’Dim to sign the Land-Purchase agreement. This form gives us the authority to build via power of attorney to conduct affairs whilst the land has yet to be transferred to us. In addition, when the registration of our foundation or company is complete, the land will be transferred accordingly. With this agreement, we gave the land purchase price in full. Thank God for trustworthy friends partners in a land with so much uncertainty.

Our Search for a home for the Lighthouse. Part 3

We returned from Thammasart University on 8 May 2009 determined to seek God’s Will whether to reconsider this property near Payap University.  By then, most of us had already lost faith in the property agent.

While Gade was still in Bangkok, the stretch of the 2nd ring road outside Payap University became the focus of our search.  As we searched, we remembered P’Dim’s property which was offered to us to build a student centre 2 years ago when the church was still in its infancy.  There were no baptized members at the time.  Habitat for Humanity was willing to foot the building costs and we would repay them slowly over time.

On 15 May 2009, Gade returned to Chiangmai and we looked at P’Dim’s land in JaReunSook Village [257 wa] 300m from Road to Doi Saket after the 3 corner market.  Another piece 1 km in from this piece [350wa].  Pimuk 3 [102 wa] just in sight of the Paradon International house and the Payap Law Faculty.  Another piece adjacent from Payap [290wa] and the original house we wanted behind Payap Net [70wa]  *1 wa = 4sqm.

Sunday, 17 May 2009 was our day of decision.  Which piece of land should we choose?  We narrowed it down to P’Dim’s land in JaReunSook village, the 350wa piece and the house behind Payap Net.  We drove out as a church to see the places again and we came back for a church meeting.  After prayer and deliberating the strengths and weaknesses of each plot, we chose the 257wa plot belonging to P’Dim in JaReunSook Village.

Monday, 18 May 2009.  We met P’Dim at her house.  She immediately gave us the title deeds to the land.  To anyone who knows about purchasing land, that is rarely done.  We hadn’t even paid her yet.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009.  Talked to my colleague Aj. Udom, Law Professor who gave us good advice on not transferring the land right away but signing an Sales agreement with the intent to transfer the property once the foundation had been set up.  He also suggested that we go to the land office to check how much tax we would have to pay.  That was truly a godsend as we would find out soon.

We met 2 architects who gave us some idea of the costs to build.  The 1st was Eld Anuporn of 1st Church, Chiangmai.  He said based on our rough sketch, it would probably cost 6 million bt. [10,000bt / sqm] The silence was deafening as our enthusiasm suddenly left us.

Thursday, 21 May 2009.  Going to the Land Office, we found out that if we transferred the land after 10 July 2009, the tax would only be 24,500bt.  However, if we decided to transfer there and then, the tax payable would be 83,500bt.  Truly God had good timing.  If we had taken the land 2 years earlier, the tax would have been even higher.

What were we going to do?  Had we “bitten off more than we could chew?”  What was the realistic amount that we could afford with our current members?